“Lowering the

Age of the
Criminal Liability”
Mariane C. Carandang
STEM 11 H
 Project Proposal

I. Introduction
Criminal Liability is liability that arises out of breaking a law or committing a criminal act. It is also
defined as any malicious action that causes harm or damage to another and is punishable by certain
penalties, such as imprisonment, fines, or both. Someone who commits crime knowingly, willfully and
maliciously is criminally liable and may be sentenced to imprisonment. Liability is the responsibility for a
crime and for the penalty society exacts for the crime. So lowering the minimum age of criminal liability
will be of great help to the law enforcement agencies who faced difficulty on treating children in conflict
with the law with age bracket 12 to 15 who acted with discernment because it can makes the minor to fear
doing such thing as crimes, though dealing with Juvenile Delinquency is difficult for the youths that are
covered by the law because lot of people are abusing it as the elders use the young generation to commit
crime because they knew that they will not apprehended for any cases.

A. Status
In the Philippines, a child fifteen years of age or under at the time of the commission of the offense
shall be exempt from criminal liability. However, the child shall be subjected to an intervention program
pursuant to Section 20 of this Act. A child above fifteen years but below eighteen years of age shall likewise
be exempt from criminal liability and be subjected to an intervention program, unless he or she has acted
with discernment, in which case, such child shall be subjected to the appropriate proceedings in accordance
with this Act. The exemption from criminal liability herein established does not include exemption from
civil liability, which shall be enforced in accordance with existing laws.

B. Government Actions to Mitigate it

Juvenile Delinquency is a major problem that a society suffers from and will continue to suffer until
there is a significant social and economic change taking place. It also refers to the anti-social act or behavior
which is against the culture, customs, and regulations of the society and is committed by minors. Lowering
the minimum age of criminal responsibility will lower the risk of juvenile delinquency and can stop the
crime rate from rising. By that government should address this issue by implementing the laws that would
fully help to solve the issues. The leniency of juvenile court codes also makes it difficult for police to deal
effectively with youth crime. In cases where there is commission or omission of an act which are criminal in
nature, the arresting officer is obligated to file the appropriate complaint since their acts are considered
violation against the state and the people of Philippines in which they are deemed to be the representative.
II. Proposed Policy
This chapter describes the idea of the chapter by timeframe, beneficiaries, rules, activities of the
program, expected results and sustainability plans.

A. Timeframe
The Established timeframe for implementing this bill would take a years, specifically one to two
years because of the preparation needed for the establishes, facilities and authorities to further mitigate the
issue regarding juveniles committing crime. In generalization of the dates, the preparation needed for the
establishes can take one to four months and facilities and authorities will take more or less 12 months to
mitigate the so on and so forth.

B. Beneficiaries
This will benefits the society by having an approach to decrease the criminal danger of teenagers
who completed authentic bad behavior offense. Lowering the minimum age of criminal liability to 13 would
benefits our generation since crime is almost everywhere here in our country and even minors started
committing crime nowadays. Lowering the age in criminal liability can be a way to lower the crime rate and
to stop juveniles to commit crime. In fact poor will benefit from this bill because for those parents who
failed to attend to the needs of their children, with the proper implementation of the law, it will be able to
rehabilitate and provide better future for these children as responsible members of the society upon their
reintegration.

C. Rules
 Lowering the minimum age of criminal liability to 13 years of age.
 For those 13 to 17 years of age that will commit a serious crime such as killing , and did not take their
responsibility for their wrongdoings they will be imprisoned for six months to one year.
 The liability insurance policies provide protection for injuries caused by the insured towards another
person or property.
 Insurance is not intended to protect criminals from obtaining benefits out of their acts or omissions in
violation of the law.
 According to the Juvenile Justice Act, minors aging below the age of 13 are exempted from the case.
 In cases where a child is proven to have acted without discernment, he will be exempted from criminal
liability and subjected to appropriate Intervention program under the law.
 Under the bill, children aged over nine to twelve years old who committed crime will be placed in a
special facility within the youth care faculty of Bahay Pag-asa.

D. Budget
 Here is the proposed budget for the implementation of Lowering the Age of the Criminal Liability.
For the establishes, facilities and the authorities.
Budget Item Expenses
Start-up P300,000
Facilitators P50,000
Services P200,000
Other Expenses P500,000
Total P1,050,000

Start-up will stand for the preparation of implementing the bill and facilitators is the one who will do the
actions or process that will needed by the bill. Services where supplying the needs such as transport, utilities
such as electricity and water that will be needed for the facilities, while the other expenses will be used for the
equipment’s etc.

E. Activities of the Bill

 Interview some of the victims of underaged criminals
This part of the bill is one of the important part, it is to have interview some of the victims of
underaged criminals. This activity may help the legislator to have an enough proof or evidence for
implementing this bill. The process of the interviewing would be getting the sample of the population of the
place where most of the criminals are teenagers or underaged and the respondents will be a purposive
sampling because it is needed that the respondents are one of the victims of underaged criminals.

F. Expected Results
This bill expected result is to lower the minimum age of criminal liability in order to adapt to the
changing times where the rapid increase of the crime rate of juveniles stops from rising. Also to decrease the
criminal danger of teenagers who completed authentic bad behavior offense, and as said in the rules it will
expecting that liability insurance policies will provide protection for injuries caused by the insured towards
another person or property. Approving this bill could likely change the status of juveniles nowadays for it
would stop them to commit crimes or to harm our society noxiously. Implementing this bill, lives will never
be taken away from them anymore and minors that commit such crimes will be lessen.

G. Sustainability Plan
In order to sustain this law, it will be needed the help of Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act that is
responsible for the children that conflicts with the law, which provide the child-appropriate proceedings,
including programmes and services for prevention, diversion, rehabilitation, re-integration and aftercare to
ensure their normal growth and development. Also the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DWSD) and other licensed non-governmental organizations will be mainly responsible for taking care of
criminally liable children in Bahay Pag-Asa centers, or youth care facilities, while UNICEF will supports
the Philippine government, as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC), to ensure that children grow up in a safe environment protected from crime and violence.